Analysis Of Macbeth's Soliloquy In Act 5 Scene 5

Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 5 Scene 5 after hearing about Lady Macbeth’s death acts as a reinstitution of Macbeth’s trace of humanity, he reflects upon his own actions and life itself. Macbeth’s melancholy lamentation over Lady Macbeth’s death reveals the disorientation of time caused by his actions. Although his desires are fulfilled, he realizes in the soliloquy that everything he has done is futile.

In the soliloquy, Macbeth brought up the the idea of time. This soliloquy is thematically significant because time represents order, organization and stability, and his own soliloquy represents the disorientation and chaos he had caused since the murder of Duncan. The occurrence of unnatural events caused by Macbeth’s crime is first mentioned

The soliloquy echoes the speech in Act 2 Scene 3 about the futility of life after the lords have discovered the death of Duncan. He says “There’s nothing serious in mortality/All is but toys; renown and grace is dead” (Act 2 Scene 3, lines 86-87). Although he appears to be pretending to grieve for Duncan by saying “there’s nothing serious in mortality” (Act 2 Scene 3, line 70), he does believe that there is no meaning to life. In addition, Macbeth’s words “grace is dead” (Act 2 Scene 3, line 87) applies not only to Duncan’s death, but also himself. He realizes he has “fallen from grace”, the world would be against him since he had destroyed the Elizabethan order. He does not see any meaning in life and therefore detaching himself from his emotions to turn himself into a vicious murderer. Macbeth’s despair over the loss of meaning in his life is reinforced in his Act 5 Scene 5 soliloquy, where he says life “is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing” (Act 5 Scene 5 lines 25-27). Macbeth comes to a point of realization that all his efforts to gain the throne are like the “sound and fury” of the tale, just acts crafted for the sake of the show without any actual outcome in the end. In exchange for kingship, he loses his “milk of human kindness” and his wife. Macbeth becomes truly empty and deserted, without anything to look forward to other than a “dusty

Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 5 Scene 5 may be Shakespeare’s way of telling the audience that no matter how we choose to live our destiny, fate could not be changed and nothing would matter in the end. Macbeth says “Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow/ Creeps in this petty pace from day to day/ To the last syllable of recorded time” (Act 5 Scene 5 lines 19-21) and “All our yesterdays have lighted fools/ The way to dusty death” (Act 5 Scene 5 lines 22-23). The imagery of all the “tomorrows” and “yesterdays” in the soliloquy tells the audience that we should not pursue our own desires without recognizing our insignificance and triviality. The soliloquy writes “to the last syllable of recorded time;/ And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/ The way to dusty death” (Act 5 Scene 5 lines 21-23), meaning the past acts as a guide on the path to death. It implies that since time is displaced into “broken syllables” and the past is disconnected into fragments. The “recorded time” would not give a coherent account of his deeds, but a stutter of “broken syllables”, akin to “a tale told by an idiot”. There is barely any solace in reminiscencing the past as all the things done in the past will eventually lead up to nothingness. The soliloquy warns the audience that the negligence of our own insignificance against life and fate would chance